Backlinks are still one of Google’s most significant ranking signals. However, not all links pointing to your website are the same. While nofollow links won’t help your rankings, low-quality links from spammy sites can result in nasty Google penalties. That’s why you should never focus the number of backlinks, underestimating their quality.
In this article, you will learn how to build quality backlinks that will boost your reach, traffic, and leads.
Write Link-Worthy Content on your Blog
Writing high-quality content allows you to earn links. Instead of reaching out to bloggers and influencers, they will recognize the quality of your content themselves and link back to it organically. This is a great way to prove your industry credibility and stand out.
Sure, writing generic articles and spamming them with keywords won’t work. Authoritative bloggers will only link to your content if it’s authentic, actionable, relevant, fresh, and data-backed. They share content they consider valuable to their audiences.
Additionally, certain content formats generate more traffic, shares, and backlinks than others, including:
- Case studies
- Whitepapers
- Infographics
- How-to articles and videos
- Tutorials
- List articles
- Ultimate guides
- Quizzes
- Data-backed industry roundups
Use Skyscraper Content Writing
The idea behind skyscraper content is simple – you find a top-ranking blog post in your industry, write a 10X better article, and replicate the backlinks. Now, to find valuable content, you could simply google the topic you’ve selected. Content discovery tools like Buzzsumo may significantly facilitate this process.
Your article should be longer and in-depth. Support it with relevant research studies and statistics. Add extra tips and insights to make it more valuable. Provide actionable examples. Instead of stock photos, use original images or animations.
Once your killer article is live, get back to the original article and see who linked back to it. That’s where backlink checker tools step in. For example, Ahrefs offers a free backlink checker, where you just need to copy the article URL. You will see the top 100 sites that link back to the article and tell you more about their domain rating, URL rating, anchor text, referral traffic, etc.
Now that you have the list of these sites, reach out to them, send them your superior article, and ask whether they would like to link back to it.
Reclaim Brand Mentions
Your brand mentions are a gold mine of link building opportunities. Namely, when someone mentions you on their blog, but they don’t link back to you, you can reclaim your mentions. You can check your brand mentions manually or use Google Alerts. This nifty tool will notify you when someone mentions your brand online.
You want to focus on those sites that mention you, but don’t link back to you. According to the Guide to Link Building in Health and Fitness Industries, one of the most effective ways to compare lists of your existing backlinks and brand mentions is to use the VLOOKUP command in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. It will tell you which sites appear on both lists.
Filter out low-quality sites you don’t want a backlink from. And, logically, you should reach out to those sites that positively mention your brand.
Start Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is not all about building links or increasing traffic. By writing quality content and publishing it on authoritative blogs, you will position yourself as the industry leader and gain people’s trust.
Start by searching for relevant queries and making a list of potential guest blogging prospects. To find sites manually, use simple Google searches (keyword + “write for us”) or Google’s advanced search operators (inurl:, intext:, OR, AND, and so forth).
However, finding these sites is just half the job done. The other half is ensuring whether they’re the right fit for you. Analyze their:
- Industry relevance
- Target audience
- Content quality
- Website engagement
- Social factors
- Domain Authority
- Website design
Investing in an automated link prospecting tool is far simpler. With Dibz, for example, you can set the parameters you want the tool to use during the research process. This way, it will automatically eliminate all irrelevant or poor-quality sites.
Write and Create Spectacular Infographics
Research says that they can boost web traffic by 12%. Moreover, they are liked and shared social networks 3X more than any other content type. The reason for that is simple – infographics combine short, clear, and actionable content with a gorgeous design. They let you pack lots of information in a visually appealing format your readers can understand and memorize.
As such, they’re often recognized as a highly valuable and engaging content form and gain loads of organic shares and backlinks. There are also numerous ways to use infographics in your link building strategy.
- Reach out to popular blogs and ask them to feature your informative infographic in their blog post.
- Republish your infographic on infographic submission websites, like Visual.ly, Mashable Infographics, Submit Infographics, etc.
- Promote infographics on online publishing platforms like Business2Community or Medium.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a pro. There are many awesome infographic creation tools you could use, like Canva, Visme, PiktoChart, Infogr.am, etc. To make your infographics consistent and on-brand, you can always outsource their creation to professional graphic designers.
Over to You
Link building is an opportunity to put yourself in front of the right audiences and attract qualified traffic and leads. Above all, content and backlinks from reputable websites will increase your industry authority and build trust with your target audience.
For starters, put some of these tips into action. With their help, you will maximize your rankings, drive more traffic, and boost user experiences.
What link building tactics to you use? Please comment below.
0 Comments